Top 10 of '10

2011 is upon us! The new dawn also brought with her the 5000th visitor to my blog! Yay!

Now with the obligatory look back at the year that was:

1. Farmer's Markets    
Finally having a Farmer's Market in Mumbai for locally sourced, certified organic produce. Here's a roundup of all the stuff I bought this year. For those of you who still haven't got their arses down to the market or have been living under a rock and haven't heard about the farmers market, click here.              

2. Home Made Sun Dried Tomatoes

What started off on a lazy Saturday on a whim, turned out, by far, to be the biggest hit on my blog (700 hits and counting). Who knew so many people were interested in little pieces of sun drenched fruit?! Here's the recipe.

3. Baking 

2010 was the year I finally got around to baking stuff. Nothing majorly great - and not without minor incidents - but I am very proud of my rather good looking olive and onion crackers.

Here's the recipe. 

 4. Glorious Beets

2010 was the year I came to appreciate beets in all their glory. I had them marinated, curried, in burgers, and in salads.

5. Quinoa

Quinoa was a new discovery for me. No one around me has even heard of this wonder grain. I thoroughly enjoyed my lemon and pea quinoa pilaf. But my favorite way of cooking it was my quinolicious salad. Here's the recipe.

6. Salads Galore

When I started off with this whole raw business, I used to almost fear salads - seemed too complicated. I stuck to my blended juices and smoothies. Now it seems more a hassle to get out my blender and make a drink for myself than to chop up some veggies and make a salad. There are over 20 salads to choose from so far. My absolute favorite has been:

a) Zesty spinach salad. Here's the recipe.

b) Strawberry Lettuce Salad. Here's the recipe. 

7. Seasonings

Raw food doesn't have to be bland as a cardboard! Let your imagination run wild! If nothing else, use lime/lemon and black pepper to perk up even the most mundane of salads. I loved my carrot sambal and my carrot and cabbage salad with coriander and cumin dressing. Here's the recipe.

8. M & Ms (Maple & Miso)

Maple and Miso - both completely alien foods to India. One of the first recipes I made was my asparagus and miso soup. Here's the recipe.

I absolutely LOVE maple syrup! I loved my lettuce salad with mulberry and maple dressing:

And finally, I combined maple and miso to make my sweet and sour bean sprout salad. Here's the recipe.

9. Sweet Potato Chips
Baked sweet potato chips with chilli and garlic - what's not to love?! Here's the recipe.

10. Something Sweet
And for dessert, why not try a vegan strawberry sorbet? Better yet - I adore my date, walnut and orange zest balls. Here's the recipe.